U.S. Immigration Policy Program
The U.S. Immigration Policy Program provides thought leadership on ways to improve the U.S. immigration system so that it works most effectively in the national interest. To that end, its work focuses on immigration pathways to the United States and immigration enforcement policies and their impacts. It examines the complex demographic, economic, social, political, foreign policy, and other forces that shape U.S. immigration.
Program staff produce data and analyses of immigration trends and the characteristics of U.S. immigrant populations, including unauthorized immigrants. And they conduct original research on the impacts of policy change and the experiences of immigrant populations in diverse parts of the country. This work is frequently informed by private convenings of policymakers and key stakeholders. For more, click here.
Featured
The Immigration Debate America Needs—and Is Not Having
Immigration is central to America’s economic future, yet debate fixates on border crises and policy failures instead of how a modern legal…
Trump Restrictions on Legal Immigration Could Sharply Reduce U.S. Population Growth
President Donald Trump's second-term curbs on legal immigration, spanning visas, refugees, and family reunification, could meaningfully slow U.S…
More Featured Work
Key Statistics
Learn more about immigrants and immigration to the United States
14.8%
The immigrant share of the total U.S. population
Learn how this share has evolved (opens in a new tab)50.2 million
The number of immigrants in the United States
Explore Data Profiles by State (opens in a new tab)18.4%
The share of workers in the U.S. civilian labor force who are immigrants
Get the data at U.S. and state levels (opens in a new tab)
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Michelle Mittelstadt
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Prosecutorial Discretion: A Progress Report on Implementing New Guidelines and Policies
A discussion on the use of prosecutorial discretion and the review by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of all current cases in the removal pipeline and on the docket of immigration courts, with U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Deputy General Counsel; the Director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review in the U.S. Department of Justice; and ICE's Director of Field Legal Operations in the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor.
Doris Meissner discusses U.S. Immigration Policy at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
MPI Senior Fellow Doris Meissner discusses U.S. immigration policy during the Fireside Forum on Foreign Policy at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The other participants are Christine Neumann-Ortiz, Executive Director of Voces de la Frontera and Douglas Savage, Assistant Director of the Institute of World Affairs, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Supreme Court to Decide Fate of Arizona's SB 1070
In December 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court took up Arizona's SB 1070, with Justice Elena Kagan's expected recusal raising the prospect of a tie vote.
At Its 25th Anniversary, IRCA's Legacy Lives On
The 1986 immigration overhaul legalized millions of unauthorized immigrants but helped fuel an unauthorized population that reached 12 million by 2007.
Eleventh Circuit Ruling on Alabama's HB 56 Fuels Debate over the Limits of State Immigration Measures
A split appeals court ruling on Alabama's HB 56 deepened the courts’ divide over state immigration enforcement, making Supreme Court review increasingly likely.
Post-9/11 Policies Dramatically Alter the U.S. Immigration Landscape
U.S. counterterrorism tools built after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks have increasingly been used to apprehend and remove unauthorized immigrants.
Through the Prism of National Security: Major Immigration Policy and Program Changes in the Decade since 9/11
What were the most significant changes that occurred in the immigration arena in the decade since the September 11, 2001 attacks? This conversation explored.
Justice Department Sues Alabama over Nation's Most Severe State-Level Immigration Law
The U.S. Department of Justice sued to block Alabama's HB 56 for criminalizing housing and transportation of unauthorized immigrants and requiring schools to report enrollment.
U.S. Immigration Policy and Mexican/Central American Migration Flows: Then and Now
Migration from Mexico and Central America has surged and diversified since the 1970s, while U.S. policy choices since 1965 built unauthorized flows that now constrain reforms.
Through the Prism of National Security: Major Immigration Policy and Program Changes in the Decade since 9/11
Since 9/11, U.S. immigration has been reshaped around national security, with the creation of DHS, expanded data sharing, nationality-based screening, and higher enforcement.